Native to Kenya Dialects Taveta
Sagala
Kasigau | Ethnicity Taita people | |
Native speakers (400,000 cited 1992 – 2009 census) Language family Niger–Congo
Atlantic–Congo
Benue–Congo
Bantoid
Bantu
Northeast Bantu
Chaga–Taita
Taita languages
Taita ISO 639-3 Variously:
dav – Taita
tvs – Taveta
tga – Sagala | ||
Taita, or Dawida, is a Bantu language spoken in the Taita Hills of Kenya. It is closely related to the Chaga languages of Kenya and Tanzania. The Taveta (Dabida) dialect was once erroneously classified as close to Pare. The Saghala (Northern Sagala, Sagalla) variety is distinct enough to be considered a language separate from Taveta.
The Dawida and Saghala varieties of Taita contain loanwords from two different South Cushitic languages, called Taita Cushitic, which are now extinct. It is likely that the Cushitic speakers were assimilated fairly recently, since lateral obstruents in the loanwords were still pronounced as such within living memory. However, those consonants have now been replaced by Bantu sounds.
References
Taita language Wikipedia(Text) CC BY-SA